Good morning, Quartz readers!
Here’s what you need to know
Official Covid deaths exceeded 200,000 in India. The real toll is likely to be far higher, as foreign aid begins to arrive.
Big Tech earnings kicked off with a bang. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue jumped 34% to $55.3 billion, while Microsoft saw its biggest revenue growth since 2018. Apple and Facebook report today.
US president Joe Biden seeks money for tax enforcement. The $80 billion boost to the IRS will help the agency crack down on tax evasion.
Biden will also propose free pre-school. The $200 billion investment is part of the American Families Plan, which also includes free community college, paid family leaves, and an extended child tax credit.
Samsung heirs must pay more than $10 billion in inheritance tax. The family of chairman Lee Kun-hee, who died last year, may sell shares—as well as priceless art—to fund the payment.
China wants an apology from Japan. This time it’s over the Japanese plan to dump contaminated Fukushima water into the ocean.
What to watch for
US president Joe Biden will offer his first address to a joint session of Congress this evening, marking the end of his first 100 days in office. Expect Biden to address police reform, and to trumpet his pandemic relief bill, the fact that a majority of American adults have now received at least one Covid-19 vaccine shot, and the country’s new climate target.
It’s too soon to fully assess Biden’s legacy, says Tim McDonnell, but his doctrine for governing is unfolding along a few key principles:
🇺🇸 America first: Under Donald Trump, that expression was a cudgel for nativism and racism. Biden is more egalitarian. But he remains focused on domestic priorities, like racial inequality and the post-pandemic economy. In the meantime, global issues like refugees and trade have taken a backseat.
🌎 Seeing the economy through a climate lens: Biden’s most high-profile diplomacy has been on climate change, culminating with last week’s Earth Day summit. He also sees climate as the country’s best shot at sustained economic growth at home, via infrastructure spending and by both competing and collaborating with China on emerging clean energy industries like electric vehicles, batteries, and carbon removal.
💪 Using the global spotlight strategically: The climate summit was a test of Biden’s faith in the US’s power to convene. The results in that case were mixed: Australia, India, and some other big emitters made no new commitments. Still, Biden has been vocal in his support for multilateral institutions like the UN and NATO.
Charting India’s ongoing crisis
Though many receive shots for free, India is perhaps the only major country in the world where citizens have the option of paying for their vaccines. In the next phase of inoculation starting May 1, state governments can decide whether they will cover jabs for people between the ages of 18 and 45.
This makes terrible financial sense, given that it is in India’s interest to halt the second Covid-19 wave for the sake of its weakening economy. As cases continue to rise, Manavi Kapur explains why the country’s vaccination program is in such disarray—and what’s at stake if it stays that way.
A manager and an employee assess the Basecamp memo
Software company Basecamp has released a controversial new memo banning political discussions on company platforms, among other changes to its culture. Quartz took each rule, as stated in the memo, and offered both a manager’s view (from Quartz at Work editor Heather Landy) and a rank-and-file perspective (from Quartz at Work senior reporter Sarah Todd).
Rule 1: No more societal and political discussions on our company Basecamp account.
The employee take: The founders of Basecamp assume that conversations about politics and society are unrelated to work. It’s a false assumption. We know, for example, that people’s racial and gendered biases get built into algorithms. Also, shutting down internal conversations on subjects like how companies perpetuate inequality is the opposite of an apolitical choice; it’s a choice to perpetuate the status quo.
The manager take: If declining to participate in political discussions is seen as a statement (in the “silence is complicity vein”) then you’re really not giving people who are uncomfortable talking about such things a fair choice to stay out of the fray. It’s true that politics and social constructs are woven through practically everything that happens in a workplace, but it’s also true that discussions about politics and social issues often veer well beyond the point at which they’re directly relevant to a business.
Read on for Heather and Sarah’s complete discussion on all of Basecamp’s new rules.
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Handpicked Quartz
🎓 India’s elite institutes have a history of deep-rooted casteism
🗳 The world’s largest democracy won’t stop its various elections—even if lives are at stake
🍼 What too many workplaces get wrong about family benefits
📈 India’s central bank warns of high inflation amid new Covid wave
🇮🇳 Inside a Covid-19 war room in Mumbai, school teachers fight what feels like an interminable war
Surprising discoveries
A German bomb squad dealt with a sex toy. World War II munitions still pop up from time to time, but the grenade-shaped item turned out to be a false alarm.
One Josh to rule them all. A pool noodle melee to determine the rightful bearer of the popular name ended with a 4-year-old victor in Nebraska.
Chinese wives have been feeding their cheating husbands medicine that causes impotence. The practice has led to some medical and ethical concerns.
Scientists found a small planet that’s hot enough to vaporize most metals. TOI-1431b is a rare ultra-hot planet located 490 light-years from Earth.
Walmart and ADT have logo woes. The retailer is suing Yeezy over its “spark” logo, while the home security company says Ring’s blue octagon is virtually indistinguishable from its own.
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